Jaguars OC Jay Gruden Takes Ownership of Poor Offensive Performance Vs. Dolphins
After the Jacksonville Jaguars (1-2) averaged nearly 30 points per game through the first two weeks in the contest, the Jaguars fell back down to earth in a big way in a 31-13 Week 3 loss to the Miami Dolphins.
For the first time in 2020, quarterback Gardner Minshew II didn't throw a touchdown pass. Chris Conley dropped several passes and had an ill-timed pass interference call. Blocking assignments were miscommunicated. But in the midst of all of this, there is one person who is taking the vast majority of the blame for the performance: offensive coordinator Jay Gruden.
“I think anytime you’re the quarterback, you’re going to get criticism when you lose and you’re probably going to get too much credit when you win. That’s just the nature of the position, that’s what you sign up for. But from my standpoint, I take a lot of the criticism," Gruden said during a media conference on Wednesday.
"I didn’t call a good enough game for Gardner to have success, so that’s on me. I have to give him a better opportunity to make some plays, get the ball out of his hands, timing more quicker-type drops, get the ball out of his hands where he’s not holding the ball waiting for deeper-type routes to develop against known passing situations. [It was] not a great game plan by us."
Against a Dolphins defense which allowed 415 yards and four touchdowns in the air to the Buffalo Bills, Minshew and Jacksonville's offense had their worst game of the season in terms of production. Minshew completed 30-of-42 passes for 275 yards, giving him his lowest quarterback rating (79.00) and yards per attempt (6.55) figures on the season.
But ultimately, Gruden believes that was more on the way the Jaguars entered the game from a schematic standpoint. Miami played mostly man coverage in the first two weeks, but they went the opposite direction against the Jaguars, something Gruden's offense never adjusted to.
"Miami kind of fooled us a little bit, played a little bit more zone than they had played the last couple of weeks. But Gardner, I think, is on track of being a very good quarterback," Gruden said.
"He’s young, he’s going to make some mistakes here and there, but for the most part, I love the way he competes. You see him competing on every single play, whether he’s outside the pocket trying to make something happen. Obviously ball security, we cant have the fumbles, but I’ve been impressed with Gardner and I know he’s going to get better and we’re going to get better around him and I hopefully I get better for him.”
The two most notable warts of the offense were ineffectiveness on third down and a quick move away from the running game. The Jaguars entered the game as one of the best offenses on third down, but they were just 3-of-10 (30%) against a leaky Dolphins defense. This included a third-and-5 playcall in which the Jaguars called a toss to Chris Thompson, which ultimately lost a yard.
"We tried a crack toss on third down, on third-and-5. I knew we were going for it on fourth down, so I tried to get the first down on the run. They [Miami] played a defense that was not very good for that look, [we] should’ve got out of the play," Gruden said.
Rookie running back James Robinson also got just 11 carries despite averaging over four yards a rush and rushing for two scores. Gruden opting to continue to throw it with Minshew instead of relying on Robinson during a deficit like he did the week before was in large part due to the Jaguars going down 14-0 quickly in the game, but it is still an instance of Gruden placing the blame on himself.
"We have to stay on track. I have to a better job of staying on track as a play-caller and not getting too panicky, so to speak. I have to make sure we stay on track and make sure we keep the run mixed in there with the pass," Gruden said.
"Last week against Miami, [we] probably got a little too pass-happy, which is unfortunate. [It] puts our team in a tough position, our tackles, puts our quarterback in a tough position. So we have to do a good job of keeping balance and it’s our job to get to starting faster. We tried to make that a focal point last week. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. Hopefully it will happen this week against Cincinnati, but we have to be prepared for both scenarios. We have to be able to play with a lead. We have to be able to play without a lead. So it’s a good learning experience for our guys, but we do have to do a better job starting fast.”
